New Niagara Children's Health Home debuts at Memorial

Submitted

Fri, Dec 2nd 2016 09:00 pm

Service will enhance care coordination for children in Medicaid households

Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center on Monday will open a significant
expansion of its successful health home - an expansion that will benefit
hundreds of Niagara County children from low-income households.

The new care management service is called the Niagara Children's Health
Home. Memorial's is one of only nine statewide that has been authorized by the
New York State Department of Health.

"Our mission is to provide person-centered comprehensive care
management to qualifying children who have chronic health conditions - to keep
them from falling through the cracks," said Vicki Landes, RN, BSN, the medical
center's vice president of community care coordination and services.

"We have created a comprehensive network of health care and other
service providers across Niagara County to help connect these children with hospital
systems, ambulatory care sites, care and case management programs and community
supports such as housing and vocational services."

Health Homes provide an opportunity to establish critical care linkages
by meaningfully connecting systems and programs that sometimes work in
isolation. To enroll in the Niagara Children's Health Home, a person must be
newborn to age 21, enrolled in Medicaid and have two or more chronic conditions
or:

Obesity BMI at or above the eighth percentile for children of the same
age and sex

A single qualifying condition of HIV/AIDS

After completing a comprehensive assessment to identify the child's
physical, psychosocial, environmental and other needs, a care manager will
develop a care plan based on the results and work with the client or caregiver to
prioritize and carry out the plan.

"Depending on the needs that are identified, this could also involve
coordination with primary care physicians, mental health providers and other
specialists," Landes said. "As each plan of care is carried out, we coordinate,
constantly evaluate and adjust it when needed. It's that extra, continued
attention that really makes this model work."

Administrative offices for both the new Niagara Children's Health Home
and the existing adult health home, which serves more than 3,000 clients, are
in the Golisano Center for Community Health at 533 10th St. The
office is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and walk-ins are welcome. To
learn more, call 716-278-4647.